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Oregon considers strict cannabis kitchen segregation

Draft regulations introduced in Oregon would segregate cannabis edibles kitchens from all other types of licensed commercial kitchens, and would require the state’s permission to share facilities with other licensed edibles makers.

Released on Friday along with other proposed licensing regulations covering growing, wholesaling and processing of cannabis products, the edibles kitchen draft regulations are the most specific and restrictive in any recreational or medical cannabis jurisdiction.

Oregon would ban cannabis production in all types of commercial food operations, including restaurants, commissaries, mobile units and bed and breakfasts — effectively, every type of kitchen start-up edibles makers might think to turn in order to avoid the costs of building out their own kitchens.

Appearing two weeks after Oregon’s legal recreational cannabis market launched without edibles, the draft regulations would require edibles kitchens to obtain the same food establishment licenses non-cannabis commercial kitchens obtain from the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

Edibles kitchens would be required to make only products containing cannabis. Production of non-cannabis food items would be prohibited.

A licensed edibles kitchen would be allowed to share space with a licensed edibles producer “if it demonstrates that use of a shared food establishment by multiple cannabinoid edible processors does not create an increased compliance risk,” and only if a kitchen-use schedule that can only be changed with the Oregon Liquor Commission’s approval is posted at the establishment’s entrance, according to the draft regulations.